Bloomberg: SunEdison May Face $1.4 Billion Default If Report Not Filed
The clock is ticking for SunEdison Inc. The world’s biggest clean-energy developer has already postponed the release of its 2015 annual report, twice. If SunEdison fails to file the report by March 30, it must reach accommodations with lenders on at least $1.4 billion in loans and credit facilities or face a potential technical default.
SunEdison reported total debt of $11.7 billion at the end of September, more than double the amount a year earlier, as it bought up wind and solar developers and projects on six continents. That’s prompted questions about whether it borrowed too much, too fast, and has helped make it the worst performer on the 104-member WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index in the past year.
Reuters: China Halting Construction of Coal Plants in 15 Regions
China will stop the construction of coal-fired power plants in 15 regions as part of its efforts to tackle a capacity glut in the sector, the country's energy regulator said on Thursday, confirming an earlier media report.
The Southern Energy Observer, a magazine run by the state-owned China Southern Power Grid Corp., said regulators had halted the construction of coal-fired plants in regions where capacity was already in surplus, including the major coal-producing centers of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi.
InsideClimate News: Exxon Must Hold Shareholder Vote on Climate Change Resolutions, SEC Says
ExxonMobil must allow shareholders to vote on at least two prominent resolutions on climate change, the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled.
One measure calls on Exxon to take moral responsibility for climate change and adopt a policy to limit average global temperature increases. A second would compel the oil giant to explain how its business would be affected by the worldwide commitment to slowing climate change. They are among seven resolutions on global warming proposed for Exxon's May 25 annual meeting.
Christian Science Monitor: Why Liquid Metal Batteries Will Soon Get Cheaper
A decade ago, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor and his students invented an alternative to the common lithium-ion batteries found in most electronics. Liquid metal batteries were built to handle large amounts of energy, be cheap to make, and have a longer lifespan than other types of batteries.
On Tuesday, a new report published in Nature Communications suggests that goal may be easier than before. MIT Prof. Donald Sadoway, the man behind the original invention, and his team of scientists have discovered a way to use more common and inexpensive calcium in batteries, potentially opening a new family of battery designs, according to the press release.
New York Times: San Francisco, ‘the Silicon Valley of Recycling’
You won’t find San Francisco’s Pier 96 in any travel guidebook, but it has become a must-see destination for visitors from Afghanistan to Vietnam. They’ve come to explore Recology -- one of the world’s most advanced recycling plants, a deafening Rube Goldberg system of conveyor belts and sorters that, with the help of human hands, untangles a 30-foot hill of debris collected by trucks every day from across the city.
“It’s like a modern art installation,” marveled Mauro Battocchi, the Italian consul general here. “So fabulous -- the people and machines and objects of our lives all working together.”